Warner Bros. | 2008 | 513 mins. | Not Rated
For the few not familiar with the series, Two and a Half Men centers on a laid-back bachelor named Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen). An advertising jingle writer, Charlie has been able to amass a small fortune to live a fairly carefree life. He has a house on the beach and a maid (Conchata Ferrell). This is interrupted when his newly-separated brother Alan (Jon Cryer) moves in along with his son, Jake (Angus T. Jones). Alan is the polar opposite of Charlie—a hardworking chiropractor, he’s incredibly uptight and despises his brother’s “live in the moment” approach toward life. Alan also prefers long term relationships despite the fact that they usually end up in divorce. Because of some very large alimony payments, Alan was forced to choose between bunking in with their insufferable mother (Holland Taylor), or Charlie and he chose his brother.
As much as the show makes me laugh, now that I’ve had the opportunity to watch the last three seasons in marathon seasons on DVD, I’ve come to realize it’s a bit repetitious. Over the last couple of years Charlie has attempted to settle down and failed; Alan has tried to start long term relationships and failed, all while pining after his ex-wife and Jake has suffered through the agonies of growing up, while evolving into something that just might resemble his uncle Charlie. Despite this, Two and a Half Men somehow manages to continue delivering the laughs.
The first episode, “Taterhead is Our Love Child,” finds Charlie running into an old girlfriend who doesn’t want anything to do with him. No big deal, right? Except, she has an eight-year-old son that’s the spitting image of Charlie and since they dated about nine years ago, could he be the father? Charlie gives monogamy another try–“Pinocchio’s Mouth” introduces Chelsea (Jennifer Taylor), who has an on and off relationship with Charlie. They fight over trivial issues constantly but manage to stay together; Charlie even unleashes the “L” word.
Alan’s personal life continues to be a mess but he thinks he has the perfect solution; rather than start over every time he breaks up with a woman, he’ll just date two at a time. After all, if Charlie can do it, why can’t he? As we all know though, Alan isn’t Charlie, so the plan proves to be much harder than he anticipated. Jake experiences a lot of growing pains this year. After misunderstanding the advice Charlie gives him about drinking, Jake gets a man named Satellite Jack to buy him a beer at a party store.
In one of my favorite episodes of the season titled “The Devil’s Lube,” Charlie finds himself rethinking his entire life, after his old friend Andy (Emilio Estevez) dies while visiting him. Charlie buys gifts for everyone but Alan and seriously considers proposing to Rose (Melanie Lynskey). While at Andy’s funeral, Charlie falls asleep and imagines his own funeral. Alan has inherited everything as Charlie left no will, James Earl Jones delivered the eulogy for $25,000 and a succession of Charlie’s ex-girlfriends line up to spit in his casket.
Two and a Half Men continues to get plenty of laughs out of the premise. While some of the jokes are the same from season to season, the writers always seem to find new angles to bring freshness to things. Somehow, the question of whether Charlie will finally act his age is still an interesting one.
The video is presented in 1.85:1 ratio widescreen format. The presentation is in a matted format, which is indicated to preserve the original aspect ratio of widescreen television exhibition. The picture quality for this transfer is pretty solid. There are some evident compression artifacts but there’s nothing major.
The audio is presented in English and Portuguese 2.0 Dolby digital stereo sound. Dialogue is easy to hear, with no noticeable audio distortions. There are subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Portuguese.
The special features on this set are fairly standard:
• Two and a Half Men: Growing Up Harper (13:35): features interviews with Angus T. Jones, Charlie Sheen, Chuck Lorre, Lee Aronsohn, Jon Cryer, Holland Taylor, Marin Hinkle, and Conchata Ferrell. They discuss Angus T. Jones and his character Jake. They how his character has progressed over the years, new interests, and other related issues.
• The Women of Two and a Half Men (15:45): is a featurette with Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, Angus T. Jones, Chuck Lorre, Lee Aronsohn, Conchata Ferrell, Holland Taylor, and Marin Hinkle. They discuss their characters.
• Gag Reel (7:21): is a typical gag reel.
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